Dont know anything about the details of the case, but on a purely technical point, surely he was suspended by the Grand Lodge as a body rather than the GM as an individual.

Loyalist

Typical. We get a resolution to the Tour of the North and start moving things forward and some “senior Orangman” runs gurning to the press to take the good look of things.

fair_deal

What exactly is he complaining about?

Colin Shilliday breached the Laws and Ordinances of Grand Lodge on dealings with the media and engaged in a direct personal attack on a brother Orangeman. This he freely admits. Then sent a letter of resignation that wasn’t accepted (did it have the correct phraseology?). He would therefore still be considered a member and subject to disciplinary proceedings. If he wants nothing more to do with the organisation why does he care?

The individual Orangeman he seems to have a difficulty with is not seeking re-election, so his core objection is a mute point.

Maybe there’s another overpriced badly written book, funded by the Community Relations Council, on its way.

darth rumsfeld

Incidentally it seems he heard from a friend at GL on Wednesday that something had happened, and hasn’t apparently either waited for a letter or rung up GL to find out exactly what has happened before running to the meeja. I’m genuinely surprised at Colin, because-even though he obviously was unhappy for some time-there doesn’t seem to have been any recent development within orangeism to provoke a resignation- not even after his unwise decision to be photographed with Ken Maginnis’s rentamob outside Stormont supporting Tom Elliott in last years’s general election

Loyalist

What really miffs the Shilliday’s, Kennaway’s and Trimble’s of this world is that GL is no longer the personal private property of the UUP.

Gee. Given the venom directed against this guy, I am glad my religion bars me from being a member of such a sad group. On a brighter note, lots of typos in the BBC’s report. Kinda like my own.

Peace bros

McGrath

A copy of the resignation letter would be useful to the debate. What was unacceptable about it? Was is not accepted so the OO can now say “He got kicked out” as opposed to the individual in question saying “I quit to OO”.

fair_deal

McGrath

“What was unacceptable about it?”

Whether it was acceptable or not was speculation on my part. There has to be a particular phrase in a resignation letter for it to be considered valid (bureaucratic I know but still the requirement).

tiny

If proof were needed that the Orange Order is a farce then this is it, lets not forget that Mr Shilladay’ S comments were made in the aftermath of the Whiterock riots when a senior Order spokesman (Dawson Bailey) made a fool of himself trying to use grammar he clearly didn’t understand and refused to condemn televised violence by Orangemen against the police. In fact the leadership tried to blame the police themselves, all Colin did was state the obvious, namely that the grandly titled Grand Master Robert Saulters was out of his depth, Colin then resigned.

Had the Order’s leadership even an ounce of wit they would have left it there, now we find they have suspended him, some six months after he resigned, what are they planning to do, send out a posse, put a bounty on his head, drag him in front of Grand Lodge, then throw him out, it’s ironic, but if Mr Shilladay had appeared on camera attacking police he would probably be in line for promotion!

Rory

I suppose there was some part of “I resign” that they did not understand.

It’s the oldest trick in the book – employers use it all the time when an employee with integrity resigns over malfeasance by the company – their resignation is ignored and they are then charged with a gross breach of discipline or expense fiddling or both and sacked and dirty stories questioning their honesty, ability and mental health are leaked to discredit them.

It happened to me once back in the early 80’s when I discovered wrongdoing in a charity I worked for that was largely government funded. The organised attacks that were visited upon me were quite incredible including attacks by hired goons, intimidatory visits from corrupt cops and the vilest sort of silky smooth deniability from an aware and complicit government department. The trick is to break the traitorous whistle-blower and make him doubt his own sanity, which I nearly did at times as erstwhile friends deserted. But I found newer, truer friends from the most unexpected quarters and although it took me two years and cost me and my young family dear, I brought the dirty bastards down in the end.

I would wish Colin Shilliday ever success in similarly bringing to the Orange Order but I don’t suppose that that would be his wish.

Rory

The last para should read “…every success in bringing nemesis to the Orange Order but I do not suppose that that is his wish”.

We here haven’t seen a copy of Mr Shilliday’s “resignation letter” so we don’t know exactly what he said, as Fair Deal has noted. But to go to the general, as you know, the Order has a rule where if you sound off in the media about another brother, you can be suspended. Are you really criticising the Order for, apparently, implementing its own rulebook? I thought that was the central charge of Kennaway’s long-winded book.

tiny

Watchman, What part of resign did the ‘Order’ not understand, they should have accepted his resignation and let the matter drop, or would that be to sensible, afterall they are an organisation of volunteers, not conscripts!

McGrath

I dont think there is any argument about the OO’s rules. I dont know their rules, but it has been stated several times, the suspension was in response to a rule violation.

I think the the real issue here is a classic maneuver to put the OO in the position of having the “last word”. What is it they say about those seeking to have the last word?

baldrick45

Rules be damned. Anyone else find it farcical that the OO rush to discipline Mr Shilliday for a fairly innocuous and self evident comment about their GM but seemingly find it impossible to discipline members linked to paramilitary groupings, lodges and their officers that defy Parades Commission rulings with “impromptu protests” of the most blatant “Kick the Pope” tunes outside a Chapel, or those that rioted while still wearing their collarettes at Whiterock last year.

Or even a nice easy matter, what about those Temperance Lodges who’s members Parade every Twelfth so p*ssed that they can hardly stand, never mind walk it a straight line, they do it in view of all the Marshalls, they have more TV footage clearly showing the faces of the individuals concerned than anyone in their right mind would ever care to watch. But is anyone disciplined following each Twelfth for bringing the OO into disrepute? I’d love one of the Brethren to tell me they were but I’d be amazed if that were the case.

I’d a grandfather who was lodge Master in the Black and the other was Master of his Orange Lodge at least twice. Both took it seriously, disciplined members for even minor breaches of the rules and both would have resigned in disgust long before now. For them it was fundamentally tied to their Protestant religious beliefs. And they took those damned seriously too.

Perhaps it is hypocrisy like that currently on display which is driving “ordinary decent Prod’s” (for want of a better term)like Shilliday out of the Order. Tackling the bigotry and getting back to a primarily religious agenda that respects everyone’s rights (Yes even the Fenians, shock horror) seems to be too big a task for the Grand Lodge. Perhaps the drop in numbers if you booted out the thugs would be too painful to contemplate. So they’ll stick their heads in the sand and discipline the critics instead.

But until they have the nerve to tackle the scum for whom the whole OO thing is some form of poor Prod’s Masonic, a social club where you get to shout about how you hate the Taigs while filling your boots with drink, might I suggest a new slogan for the OO.

“Our religious and civil liberties we will maintain but f*ck everyone else cuz they’re not Prods and they’re the sort of poofs who only drink halves”.

or what about “OO – The embodiment of Protestant Culture – and more effective than penicillin”

My 2c

English

Who the hell cares? It is the Orange Order that keeps Northern Ireland 200 years behind the rest of the UK! It is the least attractive destination for tourists in the summer in Ireland, any reason why?

Thir Eoghain

I remember reading somewhere a quote for Ian Paisley that Freemasonry suckled at the teets from the very bowels of hell…. And i’m sure an OO bigot such as himself, would have greased his way the ranks within the OO, and attained the Third Degree the ‘Royal Purple Arch’. Although the rhetoric is somewhat ‘Chritianised’ ie about the Israelities travelling through the desert, the Rituals and Oaths are an amallgamation of the first three degrees of the ‘Blue Lodge’ of Freemasonry. Does anyone know if the Scottish and York Rites extend beyond this or is the OO just capped at the first three degrees? I wonder if Ian and his fellow Orangemen are aware of this? If so, doesnt that just make him another Great British HYPOCRATE??

Thir Eoghain

Does anyone know if any Orangemen have been murdered because they have broken the oaths of the lodge??

Rory

“Third Degree” and “Royal Purple Arches” and “Scottish and York Rites” and speculation about murder for breaking oaths. Aaaah!

This is all getting a we bit spooky for me. I hope one of you guys isn’t secretly Dan Brown taking the piss or setting up publicity for his next shlock thriller.

I think I’ll stick with the Croquet Club where I’ll feel a lot safer.

tom strong

curious about the resignation. here in Australia, we just write I am resigning becauseI no longer wish to be associated with such dickheads. It is quickly accepted without questions

Belfast Gonzo

Just so we’re clear… an Orangeman can break the law, bring the Order into disrepute, act the bigot and even murder without any real fear of disciplinary action.

But to state the bleeding obvious about the organisation’s leader is tantamount to heresy.

The words ‘lame’ and ‘duck’ spring to mind about Saulters. But then they usually do.